Wild Heat (Wilding Pack Wolves 3) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (14 page)

“I know.” She kissed him, once, twice… then the third one got a little hotter. Her hands were bunching up his t-shirt, his cock was already springing to attention, and if she didn’t stop that, he was going to haul her into the back seat and sink himself into her delicious body again. He’d lost track of how many times they’d done it in the last dozen hours… but it would apparently never be enough.

Around her, he was insatiable.

He pulled her arms from their hold on his neck. “Baby, I want you like I want air to breathe… but it’s going to be really fucking embarrassing to meet your cousin when I’m hard as a rock.”

She sighed her disappointment. “All right. I did haul you up here, after all. But I swear to God, Kaden Grant, we need to be mated, and soon. I’m dying to have you sink your fangs into me.”

His mouth went dry again. Not that he didn’t want to… he just wanted to make sure it was something Terra really wanted. And they were moving at fucking
lightspeed
with this relationship. It was flat insane. Every cautious element in his cop-brain was saying
slow down you fucking idiot,
but the beast inside him was having none of that.

Or possibly his inner witch.

Fuck.

Terra was right—he needed to sort that out before they went any further.

“Let’s go see your cousin,” he said, wrenching her off his body to give his cock a chance to cool down. Then he had some serious questions for Noah Wilding.

Terra was back in her old room, but it didn’t feel like a prison any longer.

She left Kaden downstairs facing off with her cousin, Noah, each of them young and tall and broad and silent. Kaden didn’t like the idea, she knew that, but she had utter confidence that he would face this inner demon that had been chasing him his entire life. He’d never had another wolf to depend on, much less an entire pack, and that was something her future mate deserved—he was the kind of man who was strong enough to be a lone wolf. He’d done it on his own since he was a child. And that took a special kind of inner strength. She knew he could handle whatever Noah had to say about being a white wolf… and possibly a witch.

Although Terra was still a little dazed by it herself. She’d always assumed her perfect mate would be a wolf, through and through. An alpha’s alpha. But Kaden was definitely her mate, and his white wolf made a strange sort of sense… it had a witch’s power and a wolf’s inner light. He was even
stronger
than the most alpha of alphas. It would be hard on him to sort this out, but she trusted Kaden to lead the way forward. He was the kind man she could follow.

She just needed to keep herself busy for a while, to give Noah and Kaden some time to figure it out.

Her brother, Trent, had packed up most of her things already—she just had a few odd-assortment lenses and specialty papers left in the room. It wouldn’t take long to box them up. But first, she had someone she needed to call. And it wasn’t her family… she wasn’t looking forward to that, not with the news she had to share.

She scrolled through the contacts on her phone and found the number for Grace Krepky. Terra had no idea if Grace would even accept her call—she was an important person now, touring the state with her mate, Jared River, as she campaigned for Representative. Jared rarely left her side, keeping her safe from the haters, as a mate should. In a way, Terra could relate to Grace—they were both in the public eye—but Grace had another whole level of bravery that Terra did not possess. The woman had voluntarily outed herself as a wolf and was actively campaigning for equal rights for shifters—at a time when it seemed like the entire city of Seattle was against them. Terra hid behind her camera lens, trying to do something good with the result, but Grace was the true hero.

The call went through, and someone picked up. “Hello?” It was a woman.

“Is this Grace Krepky?”

“Terra Wilding?” Grace must’ve read her caller ID. “How are you holding up, hon? Jared’s been telling me all about your family and how they had to leave the safehouse and scatter to the winds. Are you all right?”

Terra flushed with a kind of embarrassment—Grace was worried about
her?
With everything else going on? “Yeah, I’m fine. I hope you don’t mind me calling. I just had a question for you, but if you’re too busy…”

“I’m never too busy for anyone in the Wilding or River packs.” There was a shuffling noise, like she was covering the phone with her hand, then the sound of a door closing. “Truth be told, you just rescued me from an excruciating meeting on polling statistics. Now, please, keep me occupied for the next half hour or so.”

Terra had to laugh. And that alone amazed her—the giggles, the laughs, the bubbly feeling of joy—all of it was
Kaden.
It was like the mere presence of her future mate had banished the darkness that had haunted her entire life.

“Well, I’ll keep you as occupied as I can,” Terra said. “I’ve got a few things of my own that I’m trying to avoid dealing with.”

“I always knew we should be friends, Terra.” There was a smile in her voice. “Now, what was that question you wanted to ask?”

“Have you ever met or spoken with an art collector named Julius McGovern?” Terra asked. “He has a peculiar interest in shifter art… and he mentioned your name.” Terra didn’t want to spill the part about Julius’s interest white wolves just yet. And she definitely wasn’t revealing Kaden’s secret until he had cleared her to do so. But Grace would know what she meant if she’d actually spoken to Julius.

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” Grace said. “But I’ve talked to so many people in the last few months, all over the state, I honestly couldn’t tell you.”

Terra frowned. “This is a conversation you would remember.”

“Oh? Why would that be?”

“I can’t really say right now, but why would he claim to have talked to you, if he hadn’t?” Terra didn’t like the implication. Why would Julius lie? Or was he just exaggerating his importance somehow? Hobnobbing with the politician?

“Well, don’t indict this Julius person yet. I have the world’s worst memory. It’s a terrible handicap when you’re meeting thousands of people over a very short period of time. Honestly, I’m really not cut out to be a politician.” Grace sighed over the phone.

“Well, you’re more cut out for it than I am, that’s for sure,” Terra said. “I’ve been locked up in hiding forever—”

A knock at the door cut her off.

Terra shuffled toward it. “Hey, Grace, can I call you later? I’m sorry, but someone’s at my door. And there aren’t too many people here at the safehouse anymore. It’s probably important.”

“Of course! Go—but we should talk again soon. Take care, Terra.”

“You too.” Terra clicked off her phone, but when she opened the door, the last person she expected was there.

Mama River.

That didn’t stop Terra from throwing her arms around the older woman. She didn’t seem the least bit surprised by Terra’s overenthusiastic greeting.

Mama River returned her hug. “My child, you’re back! When I heard, I came straight away to talk to you.” She released Terra but then held her cheeks with fingers that were thin and cool to the touch. “I expected to see the toll all this has taken on you,” she said, peering into Terra’s eyes, “but there’s more light in your eyes than when you left. What has happened, my child?”

“I’ve found my mate.” Terra hadn’t meant to spill it like that, but it just gushed out of her.

Mama River released her and quirked up both eyebrows. “Well now, that
is
something that will perk someone right up.” Then she frowned again. “But it’s only been a few days, Terra, and you’ve been secreted away in police custody—where on earth did you find this mate of yours?”

Terra’s joy dimmed with the reminder that Kaden worked for the Police Department… and that was just one of the obstacles they would have to overcome.

Terra bit her lip and held Mama River’s concerned gaze. “My mate is Kaden Grant.”

If the woman was surprised before, now she was flat-out shocked.
“The cop?
The one in my living room talking to Noah?”

Terra nodded. “He’s a wolf. A
secret
wolf.” Terra couldn’t say anything about the white wolf part of the equation, but him talking to Noah should be a clue. “We’re not mated yet, but I know he’s the one, Mama River. I just…” She hesitated, not sure how to even express her worries.

Mama River’s expression softened. “What’s troubling you?”

“If we mate, Kaden will be outed as a wolf. Being with me will mean he can’t be a cop. I’ll
ruin
his career. I have money—more than enough—but that’s not what’s important in life. He needs to have his own calling, and I’m not sure what that is. I’ve really just met him and yet… I feel like I’ve known him forever. He’s the one I
’
ve been waiting for my entire life! I just… I want to make sure I’m not the thing that ruins
his.”

There it was—she trusted Kaden to find his own way with his inner wolf/witch, but she was afraid that the way he was drawn to her might not be the best thing for him.

Mama River shook her head in slow chastisement. “The most important thing in any wolf’s life is to find their mate.”

Terra knew that was true, but she still worried.

The woman’s cool hands landed on her shoulders again. “Once you have found each other, the rest you can figure out.
Together.
When Papa River was around, he was all that mattered to me. We had our ups and downs, like anyone else, but we had each other. And then we had the boys, and the rest we figured out together. And let me tell you something—anything I thought was a challenge before, during our time together, was absolutely nothing compared to the challenge of losing him.”

Terra’s eyes welled up. “I can’t even imagine…” She’d only just found Kaden, and she already refused to picture her life without him.

“With any luck, that’s something you’ll never have to experience, my child.” She smiled kindly. “When I lost my mate, all I had was this ranch and my boys and I loved them all. As well as every wolf who walked through my door. Each was a special gift and filled up the empty space a little more.” She drew in a breath and scowled. “And let me tell you—this
Wolf Hunter
isn’t anywhere near strong enough to take those things from me. There’s no person on this planet who could make me leave this home I built with my mate.”

The tears spilled from the corners of Terra’s eyes, and she let them. Then she threw her arms around Mama River once again. “I swear to God—everyone is stronger than I am!”

Mama River hugged her, but then drew back and firmly held her by the shoulders. “That’s nonsense! You simply feel the pain of the world more, Terra. I’ve watched you, my child. You carry all the emotions of the world inside you. You feel and see things that the rest of us aren’t strong enough to look straight in the eye, face-to-face. You do that… and yet you still go on. That is
not
weakness, my girl. That is the very definition of strength. And now, if this man, Kaden Grant, is your mate… well, you hold onto that man just as hard and as long as you can.”

Terra wiped the tears from her face and nodded jerkily. “I will.”

“Then you have my support one hundred percent.” She cocked her head to the side. “But your mate will be the center of your life. And part of your family, too. Do Trent and Cassie know about this?”

“Not yet.” Terra cringed. Mama River was right—she’d have to call them and tell them, even though she was dreading it.

Mama River lifted Terra’s chin with a single finger. “Be strong. Call them. I’ll leave you be, but let me know if you need anything, yes?”

“Promise.”

Mama River hugged her again and slipped out the door, giving her a smile on the way out. Before Terra lost her nerve, she parked her butt on the bed, dragged out her phone, and dialed the number for the house where her little sister was hiding.

Only it wasn’t Cassie who answered, but her new surrogate mom. “Hello?” Terra didn’t know what she had been thinking.

“Um… hello. I’m Terra. Cassie’s sister?”

“Oh, hello, Terra!” The woman’s voice was bright and sunny. “Cassie will be so disappointed she missed your call. She’s in school right now.”

Of course she was. Cassie’s life was continuing on without her. “I should’ve known that. Just tell her I called, okay?”

There was a slight pause. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes. I just wanted to say hi.” Terra hoped the lie didn’t show in her voice. “I’ll catch up with her later.” She almost asked for Trent, but it wouldn’t make any sense for her brother to be there, either. He was probably at his software development company, running his business and getting on with his life as well.

“I’ll have her call you as soon as she gets home.”

“Thanks.” Terra hung up and took a deep breath before dialing her brother at the office. He hated being interrupted at work.

“In the middle of something here, Terra,” Trent said when he picked up the phone.

“Just wanted to let you know I was still alive.” Terra failed to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

“Jesus,
Terra.” Trent covered the mouthpiece of his phone and barked something at someone. When he uncovered it, he sounded like he was moving. “Okay, you’re alive. Duly noted. Glad to hear it.” She heard a door close. “All right, I’m in my office now. What’s really going on?”